Ok, after banging my head against the wall for awhile this evening it
looks like I have two flashfloppy drives working on my Pro/380. Well
enough to boot from and install 3.2 options.
The keys are these:
1) Use a flat 34 pin ribbon cable with three plugs in a straight line. I
tried using one with the traditional flip, got frustrated at the extra
complexity, and reterminated it as straight through all the way.
2) Set one drive to unit 0 (J2 installed) and the second to unit 1 (J3
installed)
3) This is the kicker: RX50's are Shugart drives. You have to go into
the configuration and set the drives to Shugart. IBMPC doesn't work
properly with the disk ready and disk swap signal, I stumbled on this
when I found that flipping the disk image while it was seeking produced
a brief access. Hah.
4) I set the ff.cfg also to read only to avoid stepping on the images by
accident.
So far it seems to be working, saw both drives in the file manager (I
had built a minimum system with the floppies I had) and now I'm
reformatting the RD53 drive and doing a full install. Should be as
simple as turning the knob and hitting resume.
Thanks to Bjoren for letting me know it kind of worked for him years ago
which gave me the knowledge that it could work. One issue I can see is
that since both "drives" use the same head, stupid software could assume
that since drive 0 was seeked to track 30 then drive 1 should be at
track 30 and thus no need to change tracks. So far I haven't seen this
happen, but we shall see.
Interesting.
CZ
:) it makes sense, Sellam, to inform her rather than she telling us, but again she and others her age are the future. She will do it her way just like we, at her age, did it our way. Funny: i just remembered a quote from Goonies - “this is our time”
It is their time
Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
> On Mar 8, 2023, at 12:22 PM, Sellam Abraham via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Mar 8, 2023 at 11:55 AM Will Cooke via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
>>> On 03/08/2023 11:59 AM CST Tarek Hoteit via cctalk <
>> cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>>> We probably need to get more advice from her on what we all, old-school
>> timers, should do to help keep the legacy going on !
>>> Regards,
>>> Tarek Hoteit
>> That statement may be the most important one on this list in a long, long
>> time.
>> Will
>
> Huh? That makes less than zero sense.
>
> We're already doing what we're doing. She should be asking US what SHE
> should do to preserve the legacy we've carried on to her and her generation.
>
> I mean, is anyone actually serious about asking Greta how to save the
> planet?
>
> Don't abdicate your responsibilities as an experienced adult over to
> inherently naive children.
>
> Sellam
The notion that mailing lists can filter spam by sender email address is fundamentally broken, at least when the addresses filtered are those of major ISPs. The mistake is that the fact a particular ISP customer sends spam doesn't mean that the millions of other customers do.
Since the antispam "service" currently used by the cctalk list doesn't understand this, can it be leaned on to fix their mistake? If not, could it be scrapped? Unfortunately, this sort of wrongheaded behavior goes back decades; one wonders what's wrong with the people who run these so-called services.
paul
Hi all and thank you for reading
I am trying to get my rebuilt PDP-11/23 running and able to compile and run DIBOL code...
I have RT11 up and working again, but cannot find a complete set of CTS-300 files, with the DIBOL compiler
FYI, I'm in the UK - and help greatly appreciated!
Regards,
Robin
The title says it all - the Apple III has an external hard drive called the Profile, but a driver has to be installed on the boot floppy - it won’t boot from the HD. There were also 10MB Profiles, with a different driver file I’m guessing.
I have the driver file for the 10MB, but it doesn't seem to work with my 5MB drive. Please help if you can.
Thanks-
Steve.
Is there anyone familiar with restoring or recovering QIC tapes?
I have some original tapes from an IBM 5100. (DC300 media, I think?)
A couple of them have the band loose -- I've seen these replaced in the
past.
One of them looks in decent condition, but want a second opinion before
trying to read it in the IBM 5100. Can send preview images of the
conditions.
I do also have an external 5106 and, if the tapes are still readable, I
should be able to make "fresh" backup copies (as far as the DC6150 media
that I have which is from the 90's).
From there, I'm not exactly sure how to digitally extract the content to
have preserved.
-SL
Seems like it should be simple, but it is not.
I have a pair of Goteks with the Flaashfloppy code and each one has a
USB with 400k RX50 images on it. Both are set to drive 2, and a standard
40 pin floppy crossover cable allows me to emulate a pair of drives.
Now, I want to replace the RX50 drive on my Pro/380 with this setup to
allow it to install POS. However it does not work, the Pro fails startup
with an error on the floppy controller board, and so far it looks like
POS can't see the disks.
So what is the difference between an RX50 and a pair of 5.25 drives, and
is it possible for Flashfloppy to emulate whatever oddness is in a true
rx50?
CZ
Resending
Part 2
BTW, for the parameters for DRIVER.SYS, you can abbreviate the /t:80 /s:9 to
"/F:2" (and later, "/F:720")
/0 was "360K"
/1 was "1.2M"
/2 was "720K"
anybody remember the numbers for 8"?
/d:2 meant you wanted the logical drive to use the third physical drive, /d:3
meant you wanted the logical drive to use the fourth physical drive, /d:1
meant you wanted the logical drive to use the second physical drive, /d:0
meant you wanted the logical drive to use the firs physical drive, which you
could do if you used a "360K" format on the disk in the "720K" drive in A:
during booting.
Machines that had "CMOS Setup" that supported 3.5" disk drives would let you
use a 3.5" drive as A:
And 5.25" "Quad" drives (NON-HD 96tpi, such as Tandon TM100-4, Teac 55F, or
Shugart/matsushits 465) was generally indistinguishable to the PC from a 3.5"
"720K".
TRIVIAL nits on the webpage (URL that you posted):
TRS80 Model II was 8" drives. (model 1 and 3 were 5.25") Although I have
heard of somebody kludging "1.2M" drives on one, I haven't seen it.
The picture identifying locations shows the FDC on the motherboard. It was on
the FDC board, and "power connectors" is pointing at the drive
internal data connectors; the power connectors are not visible in the picture,
because they are underneath.
"Ive heard stories that the 37-pin external adapter can be used to read/write
older 8 disk drives, but I never saw this in person. 8 disk drives were a bit
before my time."
modifications are needed to the FDC board to do so.
Flagstaff Engineering did so, and sold a modified FDC plus 8" drive.
The configuration switches on the motherboard of 5150 and 5160 can be set for
up to four drives, and those should be discussed?
Yes, as mentioned, with extra floppy drives, demented INSTALL programs, such
as MS-DOS 6.00, will insist on trying to install to your third floppy.
SUGGESTION: a cheap vise works adequately for crimping flat IDC cables; I've
even done them with a block of wood and a hammer, and with vise-grips.
NOTE: when I say "720K", "360K", "1.2M", I am using those as NAMES for those
disks, formats, and drives, not as necessarily the capacity. I am well aware
that those names don't acknowledge that the "720K" drive is capable of other
formats, ranging from 640K to 800K, (or even more with short gaps, mixed
sector sizes, and/or other tricks). But, I have yet to see, other than
listing sample model numbers, names for the drive that are simple, and less
ambiguous.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
I sent this before, but it didn't show up on the list;
Part 1;
>>> Which versions of DOS let you boot off B: ?
Obviously, NO command that you run in DOS (which would be after it has
booted), will change the boot sequence, which is before DOS is present.
Nor will such a change last through a boot (although MICROS~1 could have
included a tepid/partial boot, if they had wanted to.)
DRIVER.SYS achieved prominence in DOS 3.20. PC-DOS 3.20 was the first time
that IBM supported a 3.5" ("720K") drive. Several other companies, other than
IBM, already used 3.5" drives for laptops, such as Data General, Gavilan, etc.
with their own drivers in MS-DOS, particularly version 2.11, which was similar
to 2.10, but used by OEMs that needed to customize MS- DOS. In many cases,
the 3.5" disk formats that those companies created were different from what is
supported in DOS 3.20 http://www.xenosoft.com/fmts.html
IBM PC/JX was an IBM machine with 5.25" "720K" drives, but was never sold in
USA.
Because IBM's 5170, and most already existing 286 machines, did not include
"720K" as any of the options in the "CMOS Setup" for identifying what kind of
drive each physical drive was, DRIVER.SYS permitted creating a
logical/virtual/shadow drive that would share a physical drive, as E:, F:,
etc.
LASTDRIVE was also needed if you already had more than two floppy drives and a
HDD, to permit assigning drive letters past D:
Another alternative was DRIVPARM ! It was a CONFIG.SYS command to alter the
parameters of floppy drives, WITHOUT creating any new logical drives or drive
letters! DOS 3.20 and onwards.
Something that has always confused me:
DRIVPARM is documented in MS-DOS 3.20, but is not mentioned in the PC-DOS 3.20
documantation.
I used MS-DOS with DRIVPARM on a generic 286 machine, and it worked!
I used PC-DOS with DRIVPARM on a generic 286 machine, and it worked!
I used MS-DOS with DRIVPARM on a genuine 5170, and it failed, with a "BAD
CONFIG.SYS COMMAND" message (possibly mistaken on the exact wording)
I used PC-DOS with DRIVPARM on a genuine 5170, and it failed, with a "BAD
CONFIG.SYS COMMAND" message (possibly mistaken on the exact wording)
I used MS-DOS with DRIVPARM on a generic 286, with copy of the 5170 BIOS, and
it failed, with a "BAD CONFIG.SYS COMMAND" message (possibly mistaken on the
exact wording)
I used PC-DOS with DRIVPARM on a generic 286, with copy of the 5170 BIOS, and
it failed, with a "BAD CONFIG.SYS COMMAND" message (possibly mistaken on the
exact wording)
So, therefore, I concluded that DRIVPARM was incompatible with the IBM 5170
BIOS. But present in both MS-DOS 3.20 and PC-DOS 3.20, although it is
UNDOCUMENTED in PC-DOS.
Chuck has mentioned that if you insert 3 Ctrl-A characters, it will work
on most;
DRIVPARM ^A^A^A B: /F:2
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
So I'm working on restoring a Compaq DeskPro/XE system to allow me to
use the 5.25 floppy to copy files from my 3.5 floppies which will come
from my Windows 10 system so that I can extract on the Deskpro/XE using
teledisk the .td0 files that make up a RX50 floppy disk set so I can
load POS 3.2 on my Pro/380 and see if the DECNA card works.
What a pain in the rear.
So far the XE boots but has no setup. Setup requires a special floppy
(Diagnostic disk) which mine was bad after 30 years so I'm trying to
create a new one. I have the official Compaq disk creation thing for a
floppy but it's in QRST format and the QRST under DOSBOX on Windows10
can't properly access a floppy even if "mounted" with a -t floppy extension.
Before I drag out my rusty and trusty Windows 95 Toshiba 660AV laptop,
is there another way to get this onto a floppy? I have an endless supply
of Rpi's, and doing a DD from a .img file works fine but this of course
is a QRST file.
Thoughts?
CZ
